Man City v Crystal Palace: Back City to take the points in low-scoring battle

A lack of forwards at the club could cost City dearly over the hectic Christmas schedule.

Manchester City could, with a big win, move to the top of the Premier League, for a couple of days at least. But Jaymes Monte thinks Palace will be no pushovers for the injury-ridden champions...

Man City v C Palace
Saturday, 12:45
BT Sport 1

Man City

A run of five straight Premier League wins has hauled Manchester City back into the title race and within touching distance of top spot - victory by four goals or more this Saturday would, at least temporarily, move the Citizens above Chelsea, with the Blues not playing until Monday night.

Champions League victories against Bayern Munich and Roma in the past four weeks mean that Manuel Pellegrini's men have won seven straight matches heading into this weekend. But the hectic schedule has claimed its victims and City have lost the services of Vincent Kompany, Sergio Aguero, Stevan Jovetic and Edin Dzeko in the past fortnight.

The peculiar decision for a club of City's wealth and stature to enter the season with only three recognised strikers is now coming to light, with youngster Jose Pozo set to start his second game of the season this Saturday. Expect Pellegrini to delve into the transfer market this January, with rumours of a loan swoop for another New York City player, David Villa, doing the rounds this week.

Crystal Palace

I'm finding it difficult to know where to pitch Palace this season. I watched them get beat 3-1 at home to Sunderland at the beginning of last month and immediately concluded that they were relegation fodder, but then they have since gone and beat Liverpool and taken a point from Spurs at the Lane to counteract that viewpoint.

The reality is probably somewhere in the middle and that Palace will be one of four or five clubs in and around the relegation zone scrapping for their lives as we go into the final few weeks of the season. Whether they escape or not will likely come down to some fine margins at either end of the pitch.

The Eagles arrive in Manchester this weekend having lost only one, but also won only one, of their last five Premier League matches, with the aforementioned Liverpool and Tottenham results accompanied by defeat at home to Villa and draws against Swansea (a) and Stoke (h). Five of their last six fixtures have featured fewer than 2.5 goals.

Marouane Chamakh and Wilfried Zaha are doubtful having each been substituted in the second half of last Saturday's game against Stoke due to injury.

Match Odds

Of course this is a game that we can expect City to take all three points from, and odds of 1.3130/100 on a home win accurately reflect their chances. But we saw last weekend against Leicester that being without Aguero, Dzeko and Jovetic can prove problematic and I think that for In-Play traders there is a little bit of value in opposing the hosts early on. Of the current top 14 teams in the division, only West ham have managed to beat Palace by more than a single goal this season. Palace +1.5 is available to back at around the 2.01/1 mark in the Asian Handicap market.

Over/Under 2.5 Goals

Recent Palace games haven't featured too many goals - five out of six have had two or fewer and three of those have had less than 1.5 - while City's lack of a striker makes it difficult to see them running riot as they have done in these types of games in the past. Under 2.5 goals is a juicy 2.3611/8 and is the only logical option in this market.

To Score

If there are to be goals then they're likely going to come from City's midfield, and if there is one midfielder in the history of the Premier League that you'd like to have your money on then it has to be Frank Lampard. No arguments. Back Lampard at odds of 2.56/4 to score this Saturday and move clear of Thierry Henry on to 176 goals in the list of all-time Premier League top scorers.

And if you're looking for a big priced flutter, then Lampard 1-0 at odds of 40.039/1 in the Scorecast market is worth a couple of quid too.

Recommended Bets
2pts Back Under 2.5 Goals @ 2.3611/8
1pt Back Lampard in To Score market @ 2.56/4

Jaymes Monte 2014/15 Season P/L

Staked: 38.0 pts
Returned: 36.88 pts
P/L: -1.12 pts